Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Syrian refugees suffer hardshps of a protracted civil war

Relief agencies adapting to grim truth that an estimated 2 million Syrians may not be able to go
home for a long time

WASHINGTON — When Caroline Brennan met with newly arrived Syrian
refugees in Jordan this July, she heard familiar stories of women and
children forced to flee their homes without papers, money or food, while
men stayed behind to protect family property. But while the accounts of bombing attacks, deaths of loved ones and
sudden destitution echoed the stories she had heard during a 2012 trip
to refugee camps in the Middle East, there was also a stark
difference.
In 2012, “they would tell me they were returning in a matter of weeks —
‘whenever the fighting stops.’ Now, they talk about a year or more,”
Brennan, a communications staffer with Catholic Relief Services, told the Register.
The shift in expectations marks the refugees’ growing realization that
Syria’s civil war, now in its third year, shows no signs of drawing to a
close. Indeed, experts fear it could morph into a regional sectarian
conflict between Sunni and Shiite forces, with Christians caught in the
middle. Read more ...